


Safe and Sound

by skuldchan



Category: One Piece
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-12-09
Updated: 2008-12-09
Packaged: 2017-10-12 03:53:08
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/120458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skuldchan/pseuds/skuldchan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>[SPOILERS FOR THE THRILLER BARK ARC] Zoro contemplates the events at Thriller Bark, and shares some time with Luffy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Safe and Sound

The Thousand Sunny bustled with its usual sounds of industry—the clatter of pots and platters from Sanji's kitchen, the occasional muffled explosion from Usopp's factory, and the rhythmic clang of metal from Franky's weapons development laboratory. The captain of the Sunny had climbed the rigging and was perched below the crow's nest atop the mainsail, gazing ahead, silently watching the horizon where the sea met the sky, somehow alert and ever-curious about a panorama which to everyone else on the ship never seemed to change, and so held little of interest.

The hours of the afternoon wore on to early evening as the sun began its descent, reflecting golden rays across the ocean and bathing the skyline in a soft pink glow that was slowly beginning to recede to night. There was a short flurry of movement around the ship—Usopp emerged on deck, his long nose smudged with soot. Nami came out from the library, a forgotten quill tucked behind her ear. Robin, who had drawn up a chair in the grass earlier in the day, noted the fading light and decided to move her reading inside where the tempting smells of Sanji's cooking were beginning to waft out from the small kitchen chimney.

Feeling as though it were probably time for him to stir from his slumber, Zoro opened an eye. He almost started, his one open eye confronted by Luffy's unblinking stare just inches from his face. When did he…?

"What?" Zoro said, recovering quickly. Relaxing, he closed his eyes again and folded his arms behind his head. "Can't a guy get some sleep around here?" He more felt than saw Luffy's answering grin.

"You've been sleeping all afternoon already, Zoro."

Zoro snorted. "So? Is there something wrong with that?"

Luffy's reply came a beat later than he expected it. "Not really."

"Then what're you looking at?" was what Zoro wanted to say, but he thought better of it as he felt Luffy shift, moving to sit next to him, folding his legs with a great rustling of grass.

Luffy chuckled. He leaned close to Zoro and then ducked away quickly as the brim of his straw hat poked Zoro in the side of the head and the man reached a hand up to swat him away. "You smell like grass now," Luffy observed.

"Yeah?"

"Well, you've spent the past three days sleeping on deck."

Zoro frowned. Why was Luffy counting? "So what?"

"Nothing," replied Luffy simply with a shrug, and seemed to leave it at that. There was a second of stillness and then Luffy, bored, began to fidget. He rocked side to side, his shoulder and his knees knocking into Zoro with an infuriatingly regular rhythm.

So much for being left alone, thought Zoro glumly as he sat with his captain pitching and rolling into him harder and harder, each little collision bringing with it the salty smell of sea spray and the ocean breeze—Luffy's unique scent.

"Stop it."

Luffy continued.

"Stop it!"

Luffy stopped when Zoro, no longer able to feign sleepiness, swiveled and put an arm around his captain's shoulders. Luffy grinned, and let himself be drawn into his swordsman's embrace. If he noticed that Zoro held him tighter than usual, or that there was a twinge of agony in that way that both of his swordsman's hands came to clutch and stroke his back, the future Pirate King said nothing, but only smiled wider, wrapped his arms around Zoro's torso, and tried to match the intensity of his partner's embrace.

The silence of the ship seemed to close around them. They hadn't noticed the cessation of the ship's sounds before, but now it was all too plain—the only sounds breaking the quiet the creak of Adam wood and the whisper of the wind through Nami's mikan trees. The smells from Sanji's finished meal were stronger than before, but it seemed that the two men—the captain and his first mate—only smelled the grass and the sea.

No words passed between them as they met in a kiss with just a few short, simultaneous movements—a shift of weight, a hand moving to the back of a neck. Moments passed before they parted, Luffy with the same giant grin, unchanged from before their kiss. Zoro had long since stopped wondering how it was that Luffy could kiss and smile at the same time. He chalked it up to his rubbery, body, though some part of his mind knew that couldn't be the whole answer.

Wanting another, Luffy leaned in again, only to be pushed away. Luffy pursed his lips in a pout. "What?"

"Do you want to get yelled at by Nami again?" Zoro asked.

"But she went inside!" Luffy protested.

"Usopp, then."

"He went inside too."

"Everyone's inside?"

Luffy nodded and then prodded Zoro in the chest. "How come you didn't notice?"

"Asleep, remember?" said Zoro with a snort. Luffy looked at him skeptically for a moment before wrapping both arms around his shoulders.

"I think we're safe," said Luffy with a rare conspiratorial grin and then he threw himself backwards, almost hurling Zoro headfirst onto the grass. There was a dull thump as both bodies hit the deck, and half of a strangled protest coming from Zoro before the wind was subsequently knocked out of him.

Zoro pushed himself onto his elbows, feeling a vein in his forehead throb, but Luffy only laughed, defusing any scathing remarks the swordsman might have had about remembering that there was only one of them who was made of rubber. Zoro couldn't help the growing of a small, wry smile as Luffy grinned up at him, both arms hooked behind his neck. Luffy's rose from the grass, and they met halfway to finish what the captain had begun. It was not quite desire that radiated from Luffy as he wound both arms and legs tightly about his swordsman, but something more natural and easy, as if the movements he made came not from what he wanted but from what and who he was—unhindered by calculation, pure and simple.

Clothing was shed—Luffy's shirt, now with fresh grass stains, and Zoro's too, alongside it. The smile on Luffy's face faded slightly as he placed a hand on Zoro's chest, the man still sporting fresh bandages from their adventure on Thriller Bark, though bandages were nothing new to either captain or swordsman. But for a moment there seemed to be a flicker of concern in Luffy's eyes, a hesitance in his fingers as he traced from side to the other, the oft-traveled terrain of Zoro's old scars, and also some that would surely be new.

The look on Luffy's face brought Zoro back to that moment of judgement, standing between the towering Bartholomew Kuma and his unconscious captain. The Shichibukai's trial of pain had been nothing short of hell itself, though that had been far easier to bear than the thought that Luffy himself had not just borne all that pain moments before, but through every difficult encounter he'd been in, and without a single moment's hesitation. What pained him more than Luffy's suffering was that he, even as Luffy's crewman, as his swordsman, and his first mate, had been unable to prevent it, or even to lighten the burden. He had not been and still was not strong enough.

"You okay?" the words came out so softly that Zoro half-believed that he might have imagined them. He looked down to Luffy, who had once again broken out into a shining grin.

Zoro snorted. "I've had worse." He grabbed Luffy's hand, twining his fingers with his captain's and diverting his attention. "It'll take more than that just to scratch me."

"I know," Luffy said, his touch still lingering on Zoro's bandages long after he let Zoro strip him of his shorts, and he moved to return the favor.

Sex between Zoro and Luffy was a simple affair—effortless and straightforward. They followed their bodies, moving in ways that came naturally to the two of them, operating mostly on instinct and the connection they shared between them that transcended all attempted inspection. Without much preamble Zoro rolled Luffy onto his stomach, kissing a straight line down his captain's spine where he settled a wet kiss at the small of his back. Luffy twitched, and with a small, private smile, Zoro planted a loud raspberry there. Luffy laughed, so Zoro did it again.

They played, moving in concert. Zoro pushed forward, resting some of his weight on Luffy. Luffy in turn, pushed back against him, his body both strong and pliant as Zoro entered him. They were sweaty already by the time they started to sway, Luffy with his head bent down toward the grassy deck and Zoro buried in the crook of his neck—kissing, licking, biting. They grunted and groaned, sliding against one another, the sounds of their love-making cutting through the lap of waves across the Sunny's hull as the seas bore them ever forward. The sun had disappeared by now and the ship's lights had come on, but the deck was still empty save for the two men on the starboard side, wrapped around each other, for the moment in their own little realm where the worries and cares of the larger world didn't reach them and the future seemed to hold nothing but the promise of the endless adventures they could conquer together.

Luffy came first, but still moved with Zoro until the swordsman too, had finished. Panting, Luffy heaved himself up and tackled his first mate to the ground, winding Zoro again, though he hardly seemed to mind the second time. He reached over to brush away an unruly lock of hair from his captain's face before pulling him into a fierce hug. Luffy responded with like enthusiasm, stretching his arms out and winding them around Zoro several times.

It seemed all too short a time they shared in each other's arms before they heard the creak of the dining room door opening, and the sounds of silverware scraping ceramic and the buzz of mealtime chatter escaping the doorway. The distinctive figure of the ship's navigator and resident cartographer placed her hands on her hips.

"Luffy! Zoro! If you want dinner, then the two of you will get up here right this minute!"

The pair on the deck started and there was the sound of Luffy's arms snapping back to their regular length.

"And for heaven's sake, put some clothes on! You boys are disgusting! There are perverts and young, impressionable minds on this ship."

"Who? What?" came the sound of Franky's voice from inside, followed quickly by Brook's "Yohoho—!" chuckle that was cut short as if someone had just boxed him across the skull.

"What's going on, Nami?" said Chopper's voice curiously. His shadow approached the doorway, but Nami waved him away and shut the door with a resounding slam before further damage was done.

For a few seconds, Luffy and Zoro were alone again. Zoro let out a sigh of relief; he had half-expected Nami to come marching down there and throw them into the ocean or something. Luffy's stomach responded by grumbling and gurgling rather loudly.

"Zoro," he said, as if something had just occurred to him, "I'm really, really, really hungry."

"I know. I heard."

Luffy unwound himself and bounded across the deck to pull on his clothes. Stretching, he practically bounced up to the stern of the ship, throwing the door open and leaving Zoro to dress himself at a more reasonable pace.

The swordsman shook his head, a wry grin once again crossing his face. Picking up his swords, Zoro climbed the stairs to the dining room, where the sounds of Luffy's laughter were already beginning to carry beyond the door.


End file.
